Writing a Successful TV Series: How to Pitch and Develop Projects for Television and Online Streaming: With The Story-Type Method, #3

By Emmanuel Oberg

In Writing a Successful TV Series, screenwriter and industry expert Oberg shares career-boosting secrets for the modern series maker

Would you like to learn how to create an irresistible bible, a compelling pilot, unforgettable characters and addictive storylines that audiences around the world will want to watch week after week once they're hooked on the first episode? If so, you've come to the right place!

Based on the groundbreaking approach introduced in Screenwriting Unchained and shown in action in The Screenwriter's Troubleshooter, this third volume in the Story-Type Method® collection explores the crucial distinction between conventional series formats and the actual story structure lying underneath. Throughout, Oberg explains in a clear, conversational style how we can use the same dramatic tools to design series, seasons, episodes, storylines and sequences, and why modern series narratives are not just about teasers and cliffhangers.

Writing a Successful TV Series provides a goldmine of actionable information to anyone involved in the series development process (writers, directors, producers, showrunners, story editors, development execs), irrespective of their level of experience. As in his previous books, Oberg puts a strong emphasis on each project reaching the widest possible audience, both at home and abroad, without following prescriptive and outdated rules.

Using examples and case studies from successful series such as Stranger Things, Killing Eve, Breaking Bad, Sex Education, Occupied, The Walking Dead, Fleabag, Big Little Lies, Happy Valley and many others, Oberg reveals in this practical guide the flexible yet powerful tools and techniques needed to conquer this fast-evolving medium, focusing particularly on getting your bible and pilot commissioned. A companion online course dives further into detailed case studies and hands-on project work to help you master series design at season level.

So if you're eager to find out how mini-series, procedurals and serials are really designed in order to make it to the Writers' Room and not only survive it but thrive and shine in it, look no further!

What Readers Say:
"A must read when looking for information related to the development of streamers and serialised television series." *****
"FOR WRITERS INTERESTED IN THE STREAMING SERIES, you will enjoy this book!" *****
"Leads you through a step-by-step method to getting the most from your TV show ideas." *****
"A must-read for anyone who wants to write a successful TV Series and more!" *****

About the Author:
Emmanuel Oberg is a screenwriter, author and creative consultant with more than twenty-five years of experience in the Film and TV industry. After selling a first screenplay to Warner Bros, he has been commissioned as a writer by StudioCanal, Working Title / Universal, Gold Circle and Film4. He has also designed internationally acclaimed advanced  development workshops and modules on thriller, comedy, animation and TV Series, all based on the Story-Type Method. He delivers them with passion to storytellers around the world, in-person or online, through a series of interactive online courses and hybrid events. Emmanuel lives in the UK with his wife and their two daughters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Screenplay Unlimited Publishing
• Release date: Jun 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9780995498181

Book preview

WRITING A SUCCESSFUL TV SERIES

How to Pitch and Develop Projects for Television and Online Streaming

With the Story-Type Method® Volume 3

By Emmanuel Oberg

Copyright © 2023 by Emmanuel Oberg. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, audio, visual or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. Nor can it be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar conditions including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Screenplay Unlimited, The Story-Type Method and The Structurator

are registered trademarks of Screenplay Unlimited Ltd.

ISBN: 978-0-9954981-8-1 (e-book), 978-0-9954981-9-8 (paperback),

978-1-7394647-0-7 (hardcover with colour interior), 978-1-7394647-1-4 (hardcover with B&W interior)

By the same author in the Story-Type Method Series

Volume 1: Screenwriting Unchained

Volume 2: The Screenwriter’s Troubleshooter

The Story-Type Method® Series Editor: Naomi Telford

Author photo by Barbara Leatham Photography — Cover by JD Smith Design

See If You Want to Find Out More... at the end of this book to access free content and receive a discount on our interactive online courses

Writing a Successful TV Series by Emmanuel Oberg – 1st ed.

Published in Great Britain in 2023 by

Screenplay Unlimited Ltd

10, Orange Street, Haymarket, London WC2H 7DQ United Kingdom

Read more at www.screenplayunlimited.com

Contents

Introduction

How to Make the Most of This Book

A Quick Overview: The Three Dimensions of Screenwriting

Story Format: The Visible Side of the Story Iceberg

Story Structure: The Underlying Design

Managing Information

Understanding Story-Types

The Dramatic 3-Act Structure

The Three Dimensions of Screenwriting

Feature Film Example: Tootsie

TV Series Example: Breaking Bad

A New Approach to Story Structure

The Story-Type Method

How to Develop Stronger Screenplays

Reminder

1 Trends, Series Types and Conventional Series Design

First Up

1.1 Trends

Commercials Don't Rule Content Anymore (and Thoughts on Series for Streaming)

Fewer Episodes per Season and Higher Budget

More Originality and Diversity

Faster Pace

Shorter Episodes

More Non-English Language Series

New Players

1.2 Series Types

Format

Procedural (or Closed-Ended Series)

Serial (or Open-Ended Series)

Serial-Procedural Hybrid

Sitcom

Mini-Series (or Limited Series)

Anthology Series

Mini-Series Series (or Anthological Limited Series)

Web Series

Film Franchise

1.3 Conventional Series Design

When Commercial Breaks Dictate Story Format

Storylines: Where Format Meets Structure

Story Design 1: Defining the Storylines

Story Design 2: Breaking Each Storyline

Story Design 3: Story Weaving a One-Hour Episode

Let’s Be More Dramatic

Cliffhangers

Teaser, Recap and Coming Next

Worst Point

What Lies Beneath

1.4 Hands-On: What's Your Type? (Part 1)

2 Underlying Series Design

First Up

2.1 Underlying Story Structure

Story Structure in Series

Fractal Aspect of Story Structure in Series

2.2 How to Identify Your Story-Type in Series

2.3 Use of Maslow in Series

Target Audience

Story-Type

Genre

2.4 Managing Information in Series

Surprise, Mystery, Dramatic Irony, Suspense

Using Dramatic Irony to Generate Suspense or Comedy

Using Surprise to Raise the Stakes or Generate Comedy

Using Mystery to Raise Tantalising Questions

Making Sure That Mystery Doesn’t Kill Suspense or Prevent Identification

Using Managing Information to Create Cliffhangers

Examples

Stranger Things

Friends

2.5 Case Study: Stranger Things

Format, Series Type, Story Type, Genre and M-Factor

Season Design

Defining the Storylines in Stranger Things

Breaking the Storylines in Stranger Things

Identifying the Dramatic Design of Each Storyline

Breaking Down Each Storyline Into Dramatic Sequences

Dramatic 3-Act Structure in Joyce’s Storyline

Breaking Down Dramatic Act 2 in Joyce’s Storyline

Overall Notes

Story Weaving in Stranger Things

Identifying the Main Storylines at Episode Level

Managing Focus

Checking Causality

Handling Dramatic Sequences

Teasing with Cliffhangers

Developing Relationships

Final Thoughts

2.6 Hands-On: What's Your Type? (Part 2)

3 Project Development

First Up

3.1 Creating an Irresistible Bible

Overarching Questions and Aims

Pilot Commission or Straight to Series Bible?

Have You Nailed Your Format?

Are You Thinking Global From the Get-Go?

Is Your Story Engine Firing on All Cylinders?

From Cerebral to Emotional: Where Do You Set the Dial?

Are You Striking the Right Balance Between Mystery and Suspense?

Examples

From Procedural to Serial: How Much Mythology in Your Series?

Characters in Series: How Are They Different?

Are You Overplanning or Boxing Yourself In?

Series Design

Franchise, Series Type and Story-Type

Set-Up and Story World

World Building

Genre

Concept

Maslow

Theme

Character Design

Plot

Bible Components

Series Title

Series Logline

Series Overview (or One-Sheet)

Character Breakdowns

Story World

Pilot Story

Arc of the First Season (and Possibly More)

Arc of the Series

Tone, Genre and Style

Episode Loglines or Synopses

Package

Pitch Deck

3.2 Writing a Compelling Pilot / First Episode

Goals for the Pilot

Premise or Midstream Pilot?

The Premise

Pilot Components

Opening Image

Teaser or 3-Minute Hook

10-Minute Hook

Complications

End-of-Episode Hook

3.3 Case Study: Killing Eve

3.4 Hands-On: Pilot Checklist

Conclusion and Next Steps

Story-Type Method Glossary

Recommended Reading and Watching

If You Want to Find Out More...

Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You’re gonna love it.

—Monica Geller, Friends

Introduction

I love TV series. Like novels, they allow storytellers to explore more complex storylines and characters yet, like feature films, they rely on visual storytelling.

TV development also tends to give more creative control to writers and producers than directors, which from a writer’s point of view is quite an attractive proposition.

For many, series have become a medium just as exciting as feature films. Today, the stigma sometimes attached to TV — many used to look down on television or streaming compared to cinema — has gone and countless A-List writers, directors and actors previously associated only with feature films have successfully embraced a TV series career.

The border between television and cinema is much more porous than it was a few decades ago, when you had to choose one or the other early on and that initial choice often defined the rest of your career.

TV and especially streaming have become a coveted medium, and there has never been a better time to break into the business. Although the streamers’ spending spree of the early 2020s is definitely over, everyone is still looking for good stories.

However, series are technically and creatively more challenging to develop than feature films, so whether you come from a film background or not, it’s essential to master some aspects of storytelling and script development specific to this medium in order to break into the series business successfully.

I have over twenty-five years of experience in the Film and TV script development process, having been involved as a screenwriter, development exec, story editor and creative consultant, working with major studios and broadcasters (Warner Bros, Working Title, Universal, Film4, StudioCanal) as well as independent producers. Over the last five years, I’ve designed a popular online course and live workshop on series development that complements this book.

Writing a Successful TV Series is not a theoretical essay for academics or critics but a practical guide for Film and TV creatives. Its main purpose is to resolve one problem and answer one question: How to get a TV series project picked up and made and how to reach a wide audience without limiting creative freedom.

It was written to help you identify design issues in your series and address them as early as possible in the development process. It should also help you find the best way to present and sell your concepts, increase the chances of getting your projects made and reach a wide audience at home and abroad, whether they’re written in the English language or not.

It’s intended for anyone involved creatively in developing TV series projects, including writers, directors, producers, story editors, creators, showrunners — regardless of their experience level. The more experienced, the more you should get out of this book. It should also be a perfect match for experienced film creatives wanting to branch out into TV series, or for experienced TV creatives who wish to look at their craft from a new perspective and possibly add a few instruments to their toolbox.

In this book, we’ll dive into how successful series are designed, which is entirely different from the way they are superficially formatted (and I’m not talking about script format here but story format).

Nearly every book about series writing insists on shaping an episode using some variation of an artificial format in two, three, four or five logistical acts, with or without a teaser, and claims that this format is needed to structure an episode. However, none of them explain how series are actually designed underneath (at series, season and episode level), which is a key factor to their success.

Understanding the crucial difference between the dramatic design of series, seasons, storylines, episodes or scenes and the logistical format used by most in the industry to describe series episode structure will transform your approach to TV series development, irrespective of your level of experience.

It will give you more creative freedom because you’ll be liberated from unnecessary constraints, yet you’ll also be able to create stronger concepts and design better series, while still delivering the requested format for each show.

We’ll also discuss how different types of series or series types (procedural, serial, sitcom, limited, anthology etc.) require different design approaches, and how choosing the right type of story or story-type (plot-led, character-led, theme-led or exception) at series, season and episode level can make or break your project.

Choosing the wrong combination of series type and story-type is the root cause of many series failures, whether at concept stage, during the first season or afterwards. Quite a few series run out of steam because their creator didn’t realise that, by choosing a given story-type for the first season, they had boxed themselves in, preventing a viable season two, even when the first season has been a major success.

We’ll discuss how managing information — dramatic irony, surprise, mystery, suspense — adds an essential dimension to series writing. Mastering this third dimension of screenwriting — the first two being managing conflict and character evolution — is going to dramatically increase the quality of your series design as well as their ability to attract and retain their intended audience, globally.

We’ll explore the way in which Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is running the show and how we can use it to understand how non-English language series such as Squid Game, Occupied or Money Heist (La Casa de Papel) became global hits.

Overall, we’ll detail the flexible yet powerful tools and techniques needed to conquer this popular medium, focusing particularly on getting your series commissioned. We’ll discuss the most efficient strategies for pitching your series, creating an irresistible bible / pitch deck, a compelling pilot, unforgettable characters and addictive storylines, all essential aspects of project development. We’ll look at case studies for successful pilots / first episodes such as Stranger Things and Killing Eve, while drawing examples from many more hit shows.

Finally, if you’d like to go further in applying these concepts to your projects at season level, you’ll have the opportunity to join a companion course and descend even deeper into extensive case studies. We’ll look into detailed scene breakdowns, strands maps and storylines at episode and season level to study the actual design of successful series such as Stranger Things, Sex Education, Big Little Lies and Occupied, as well as exceptions such as Happy Valley, Fleabag and Mr Robot.

No other book or online course offers such a detailed analysis of so many different shows, and how they are designed at series, season, storyline and episode level. This in-depth reverse-engineering will reveal how successful series are actually designed by masters of this medium, so that you can design your own and, hopefully, reach similar success.

Right, let’s dive into it, starting with how to make the most of this book.

How to Make the Most of This Book

Although you can absolutely read this book and get a lot out of it without any preparation, a significant part of Writing a Successful TV Series explores how we can apply the Story-Type Method to series writing specifically.

Preparation

Option 1 (for perfectionists): If you aren’t familiar with this new approach to screenwriting, I invite you to read the first volume in the series, Screenwriting Unchained or take the Advanced Script Development online course (www.screenplayunlimited.com/online-courses/) before going through this book, to familiarise yourself with the advanced tools and techniques that can be used with any kind of screenwriting, including series.

This is how the Story-Type Method series of books is designed: Any volume can be read independently, but they all build on the concepts, tools and techniques detailed in the first volume / main online course, which introduces the method itself and explores the toolbox.

Option 2 (for those short on time or money): I understand that you might not want to splurge on another volume or invest in an online course when you’ve just purchased this book, so if you’re willing to compromise a little, you’ll find a link to download a free sampler of Screenwriting Unchained (first seventy pages) at the end of this book in If You Want to Find Out More... The sampler includes the introduction and the first chapter, providing an overview of the method up to and including the section on Maslow, with many info-graphs and examples. You’ll also find an extra 10% discount off the Advanced Development online course, should you decide to go that route after reading the sampler.

Option 3 (for those in a hurry): Finally, for those who don’t have the time to read the free sampler, I’ve included in this book a twenty-page introduction to the method, written from a slightly different perspective. This crash-course comes from a free online presentation called The Three Dimensions of Screenwriting that you can also watch (with animated info-graphs) at www.screenplayunlimited.com/3d-of-screenwriting/registration or explore as a mini-course at www.screenplayunlimited.com/courses/the-three-dimensions-of-screenwriting/.

You’ll find this quick overview just after this section — it should be a great help to anyone new to the method. However, if you find it too intense, please consider one of the other two options for preparation, as I have a lot more time there to introduce concepts and develop them. If you’re already familiar with my approach, feel free to skip this overview and go directly to the first chapter.

Reference Tools

Although I’ll define some of the concepts detailed in Screenwriting Unchained in this book, I’ll inevitably use terms that you might not be familiar with if you haven’t read the first volume.

To overcome this hurdle, besides the inclusion of the Three Dimensions of Screenwriting section at the beginning, I’ve added a Story-Type Method Glossary at the end of this book, with definitions of the most important concepts, as well as references to chapters where they are discussed in more detail, both in this book and in other volumes.

Case Studies

I suggest you watch the first season — or at least the first episode — of Stranger Things and Killing Eve, as we’ll use them for our main case studies at the end of chapters 2 and 3.

The companion online course includes further case studies. I’m able to go into more detail in these as, compared to the written page, videos are a more effective way to go through colour-coded storylines, episodes and strands maps.

If you haven’t done so already, I also recommend that you watch the first season of Sex Education, Big Little Lies and Occupied (the other main case studies in the companion course) as I draw many examples from these series in this book.

I’ll occasionally refer to these detailed case studies and to the companion course to remind you that this resource is available to further your understanding and provide additional help with the development of your projects.

Please look at the If You Want to Find Out More… section at the end of this book for more information on how to access free content and how to receive an additional discount for the online courses, including the TV Series add-on.

Right. Enough preamble. Time to begin our TV series journey!

A Quick Overview: The Three Dimensions of Screenwriting

As explained in the previous section, feel free to skip this quick overview and go directly to Chapter 1 (Trends, Series Type and Conventional Series Format) if you’re already familiar with the Story-Type Method and don’t feel the need for a refresher.

Before I start to explain what I call the three dimensions of screenwriting, I’d like to clarify how this approach is radically different from anything you already know about screenwriting and script development and why understanding this difference is key to getting unstuck and becoming more successful.

So, let’s start with a simple question. What if screenwriting was like an iceberg and great storytellers were masters of story structure — the submerged, invisible side — but most screenwriting gurus were only talking about the visible part: the theories, formulas, the paradigms often used to discuss screenwriting?

Ever since Syd Field started talking about a 3-Act structure a few decades ago, newer approaches have tried to go beyond this simplistic approach by adding more acts or steps, becoming even more prescriptive, instead of looking at what was wrong in the approach itself, which is the fact that it’s logistical — based on pages or minutes — rather than dramatic.

Three, four, five acts, eight sequences, fifteen beats, twenty-two steps... You name it. The visible part is about story format. It tells you how to cut your story into smaller, more manageable parts in a prescriptive way, which only leads to more predictable stories. It’s not about story structure.

Making this crucial distinction is the first step towards resolving your script development problems. So let’s dig deeper and explain the difference between story structure and story format:

Story Format: The Visible Side of the Story Iceberg

Let’s start with story format, the visible side of the story iceberg.

Story format is the term we’ll use to describe any superficial approach that dictates the use of a set number of parts with a fixed number of pages or minutes — so again, it could be 3, 4, 5 acts, 8 sequences and/or plot points, such as 15 beats, 22 steps, and so on.

This is what I call a logistical approach. It’s about format, not structure. It allows you to divide all scripts superficially, but it doesn’t help you to design the story from a structural point of view. This approach is rooted in the past and really has no place in modern storytelling.

For example, in theatre, we needed to have act breaks to replace burning candles regularly, so we had plays in five acts. In the cinema, we had to replace reels of films during projection, so we had eight sequences. In broadcast TV, we have commercial breaks, so we have four or five acts for a one-hour episode, or seven acts for a TV movie. But all this is gone. With streaming, for example, we no longer have commercial breaks (except on the lowest tiers).

Story Structure: The Underlying Design

So, let’s look at story structure now, which is the part that almost no one talks about.

Weirdly enough, what’s going to help us go beyond the 3-Act structure is the 3-Act structure.

I’m talking about mastering the dramatic 3-Act structure. So instead of a vague beginning, middle, and end, we will use three dramatic acts to design our story: before, during, and after a main dramatic action or evolution. This approach is very flexible because, unlike logistical acts, dramatic acts can be as short or as long as you need them to be, for each specific story. We’ll expand on this crucial difference shortly.

Unlike the logistical 3-Act structure, defined in pages or minutes, the dramatic 3-Act structure also has a fractal aspect, which means that you can use it to design not only the whole story, but also its parts: scenes, sequences, acts, subplots, storylines, episodes and seasons.

And so, mastering the dramatic 3-Act structure is simply going to revolutionise your approach to script development because suddenly you have a tool that you can use to develop any dramatic story, from a simple scene to a ten-season serial with fifteen different storylines.

It will not only help you to clarify the way you design any story, it will also help you to improve your scene writing, to write and design action sequences, or to deal with complex, multi-stranded and non-linear storytelling often found in TV series. More on this to come.

Managing Information

Another crucial part of story structure is managing information: Using tools such as mystery, surprise, suspense, and most importantly, dramatic irony as key design elements for many stories, especially exceptions.

We’re going to talk more about managing information soon, but let me just define these terms quickly. Mystery is when you give enough information to the audience for them to become aware that there is something they don’t know; surprise is when you suddenly reveal information that they didn’t expect; suspense can only happen when the audience is aware of a danger, whether it’s physical or psychological; and dramatic irony is when you give information to the audience, but keep that information from at least one character (the victim of the dramatic irony).

As you can see, all these tools have one thing in common: They are about how much or how little the audience knows in the story.

Mastering managing information is crucial because it will help you not only to create more subtle, more complex and more emotionally powerful stories, it will also help you to handle most exceptions — stories that don’t fit into any of the main story-types, which leads us to the next point.

Understanding Story-Types

Finally, understanding story-types is another essential aspect of story structure: designing each individual story according to its true nature, instead of trying to force all stories into the same one-size-fits-all, prescriptive mould.

Very briefly, I’ve identified three main types of story, or story-types: plot-led, when the protagonist struggles primarily with an external problem (antagonistic characters or nature); character-led, when the protagonist fights primarily an internal problem and needs to change; and theme-led, when the main problem in the story lies in society.

This is crucial because depending on its type, you’re going to design and write your story differently. Identify the right story-type for your project — or how to best handle it as a hybrid or an exception — and its dramatic engine will fire on all cylinders. Fail to identify your story-type — or how it works as a hybrid or exception — and your story engine will break.

These key aspects of story structure — mastering the dramatic 3-Act structure, managing information, understanding story-types — are part of what’s going to help you make the difference between story format and story structure. We’ll talk about these briefly in this overview, but for a full explanation, please look at the first and second options for preparation in How to Make the Most of This Book.

So, what does this mean for screenplay development? The reason scripts get stuck is often because those involved in the development process use tools that only tackle the visible part: story format. To improve the underlying design, to get stronger screenplays, we have to use structural tools. We have to master the invisible part: story structure.

This is what’s going to help you